MFT dilema.

mex

mex

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I am looking into get a MFT body and currently the Lumix GX80 looks the one. The dilema is this, I will want to be able use my EF lenses ( I will buy an adapter) and want to know will they perform the same on a smaller sensor as they do on a DSLR sensor? What are the pro's and cons?

My lenses are : 500mm f4 is, 70-200 f4 is, 24-70 f2.8 and Sigma 150-600 c.
 
“Work the same” - Well that depends what you mean...

The field of view will be approximately equivilent to double the focal length (a 500mm lens will give a similar field of view to a 1000mm on a 35mm/FF camera). Focussing speed will (likely) be slower than on your Canon and slower than a native mFT lens. They will also be much larger than native mFT lenses.
 
I got an old MFT body recently to try out on the side to my Fuji. I wanted to try out the stabilization with old lenses for one. Your lenses should perform fine, as they will be sharpest in the centre, you're only losing the softer outer edges. I tried my old Takumar 200mm F4 on the Em5 today as my M42 to M43 adapter arrived, and was very impressed. I was able to hand hold and get sharp shots at 1/20, this is a lens I never liked to use below 1/250 on the Fuji. Also I'm getting that extra bit of reach on cam, with the Fuji I would have been cropping a lot of the images [mostly garden birds with that lens] in post by a fair amount.

I take it you know that you will only get manual focus with cheap adapters. I think there are some AF adapters for Canon, but I wouldn't use lenses that didn't have an aperture ring unless you are happy with them wide open. You will have to input the focal lengths for each lens so the IS can adjust for them.
 
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Cagey75 said:
I take it you know that you will only get manual focus, and you will have to input the focal lengths for each lens so the IS can adjust for them.
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The OP was talking about EF lenses (Canon AF) so surely with the right adapter they can be AF?
 
Eloise said:
The OP was talking about EF lenses (Canon AF) so surely with the right adapter they can be AF?
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Yeah I think there are some AF adapters, edited my posts above - but they won't allow control of the aperture on Canon lenses AFAIK.
 
There are some drawbacks. If you're using a 'dumb' adaptor then you'll have no aperture control so would be shooting everything wide open if the lens has no aperture wheel. I'm not sure that you can get adaptors that could control the aperture but maybe someone will correct me. No AF of course.

Another issue is that MFT sensors demand a lot from lenses. They have very high pixel density and lenses that can work well on larger formats can start to struggle a little. Not all though and I would suspect your lens selection will be better than most.

Then you have the 2x crop factor. Great for telephoto and I bet your 500mm would be fun to use on occasions but I can't imagine you'd find much use for the 24-70 as it'll turn into a bit of an odd effective range. Something like a 50mm 1.4 works nicely as you get a nice 100mm effective focal length with a DOF equivalent to a 2.8. That sort of thing has it's uses but most lenses end up being odd lengths, especially wide angles.

Then lastly, worth mentioning, the sheer disparity in size of body vs lens. These things are going to absolutely dwarf any m4/3 body.

I don't want to sound too negative, using adapted lenses can be fun but I think more of a novelty. Long lenses and macro lenses maybe being the exception as they take on a while new role on m4/3. Also, don't miss out on the naive m4/3 stuff. There are some absolute gems to be had.
 
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mex said:
I am looking into get a MFT body and currently the Lumix GX80 looks the one. The dilema is this, I will want to be able use my EF lenses ( I will buy an adapter) and want to know will they perform the same on a smaller sensor as they do on a DSLR sensor? What are the pro's and cons?

My lenses are : 500mm f4 is, 70-200 f4 is, 24-70 f2.8 and Sigma 150-600 c.
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It can be done obviously, but the adapters aren't cheap and I have to ask why? The idea of M43 is the size of the bodies and lenses, why would you want to put a huge Canon lens ie 500mm onto a m43 body, it seems to negate m43 advantages
 
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jakeblu said:
It can be done obviously, but the adapters aren't cheap and I have to ask why? The idea of M43 is the size of the bodies and lenses, why would you want to put a huge Canon lens ie 500mm onto a m43 body, it seems to negate m43 advantages
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Its the 4k that attracts TBH.
 
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mex said:
Its the 4k that attracts TBH.
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Fot the lenses you're looking to adapt, you might be better looking at some of the beefier MFT bodies that also have 4K. Some of the older, bigger ones perhaps? Like the GH4 or G7, or stretch a little more and go for the G80/85.
 
FoV is x2 with MFT and FF lenses may appear a little less sharp due to the additional magnification factor, that's been my experience with FF lenses on MFT cameras.

Unless wedded to the Canon lenses or they have some advantage over native lenses I'd look to replace them with native ones. The higher end MFT lenses can be expensive but they seem to get well reviewed and as a general rule native lenses seem to perhaps perform better than adapted ones.
 
woof woof said:
FoV is x2 with MFT and FF lenses may appear a little less sharp due to the additional magnification factor, that's been my experience with FF lenses on MFT cameras.

Unless wedded to the Canon lenses or they have some advantage over native lenses I'd look to replace them with native ones. The higher end MFT lenses can be expensive but they seem to get well reviewed and as a general rule native lenses seem to perhaps perform better than adapted ones.
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Couldn't agree more from my experiance.
Seem to recall a lot of people finding the claims of these super adapters not being lived up to in use.
 
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